Sailors Mail Bag

Title:  Sailing Season Underway -- Volunteer Boaters Needed

The 2021 sailing season got off to an exciting start Saturday April 10th with five sailboats competing in blustery conditions on the ocean off Ponce Inlet in the first two races of the HRYC Commodore's Cup series.  Sailing a four-nautical mile upwind/downwind course in winds over 20 kts, Obsession, skippered by Norman Church led the way in the Performance Class, with Smyrna Yacht Club's Sailaway, skippered by Phillip Cornet, finishing first in the cruising class. A tip of the cap to HRYC Vice Commodore JR Redigan, who crewed onboard Godspeed in the cruising class, and a BIG thank-you to Mac Smith aboard Stardust, who served as committee boat.

Boaters Needed: Do you have a boat and are looking for a way to volunteer support a club activity?  Please consider serving once a month as a race committee boat -- helping set and retrieve the floating turn markers that are critical to successful Commodore's Cup races.  Sailing Committee Chair Norman Church is looking for several volunteer boaters to travel near-shore on the ocean up to the Daytona Main Street Pier, Racing's North Turn, and/or south to Smyrna Beach's Main Street to place/retrieve markers before/after the sailboat races. Please contact Norm if you can help.

HRYC's next ocean sailboat race is the Gulfstreamer held over Memorial Day weekend, with a near-shore race from Ponce Inlet to Daytona's Main Street pier, immediately followed by the offshore race out to the Gulfstream and up to Charleston, South Carolina.  It's not too late to sign up, either as a participant boat or to cheer on the crews as they sail offshore and arrive in Charleston harbor.

The Club is pleased to announce the 2021 Junior Sailing Camp - Summer Sessions, for Boys & Girls Ages 8 - 16. Sessions are available the weeks of June 14, June 21, June 28 and July 12, July 19, July 26.  Registration is not yet open, but will be soon. Please check the club website for additional information.

Finally, we'd like to welcome a "Sailor's Mailbag" feature to the Sailing Corner, where we'll answer your questions about sailing. Send your queries to: frontdesk@hryc.com and we'll answer them in future Sailing Corner articles.